State Lands Commissioners to Tour Piers 421

The public is invited to join State Lands commissioners on a field visit to the Piers 421 decommissioning site below Sandpiper Golf Club on Tuesday, April 26 at about 11 a.m. The visit precedes a hearing by the commission at Goleta City Hall, which takes place at 1 p.m., at which time public comment will be heard. The site visit is an opportunity for the public to see the piers where oil wells have been decommissioned, but no public comment will be taken, said Sheri Pemberton, spokesperson for State Lands.

The piers are located on a sandy beach about a half mile down from Haskell’s near Bacara Resort. Parking is limited near Bacara’s tennis courts, and carpooling is recommended. As the piers are an active construction site, a liability waiver is necessary to participate in the field visit, available here. The signed waiver can be returned to the commission at cslc.commissionmeetings@slc.ca.gov or brought to the site visit.

A Final Environmental Impact Report for the piers was posted at the State Lands site in March. It describes the history of the wells, which go back to 1929, and the next steps in the decommissioning, which include removing the caissons and piers. A second phase would remove the pipelines, which extend through the 12th Tee of the golf course and lead to the Ellwood Onshore Facility.

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